


temporary tattoos

by heartsighss



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Angst, Band Fic, Falling In Love, Famous Dream, Feral Boys are a band, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Miscommunication, References to Drugs, Slow Burn, Smoking, dream is like hannah montana guys its great, no beta we die like its our last canon life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:29:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29441925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsighss/pseuds/heartsighss
Summary: Our love is like a temporary tattoo, we will last for a little while. And then just fade away, as though we were never there in the first place.Or, Dream's a famous singer. George is in an up and coming band called The Feral Boys and Dream invites them on tour with him. But things aren't quite as easy as that.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 47





	temporary tattoos

**WHO ARE THE FERAL BOYS?  
** An Interview with The Feral Boys: Indie Rock's Newest Faces.  
  


_What do you get when you mix together a bunch of pretty boys, lofi rock-sound, overwhelming energy and a sick new album?_ — A kick-ass band called The Feral Boys.

Sitting in a room with the indie-rock quartet, one of the first things I notice is that you can't get a moment of silence between them.

Lead vocalist Alex Quackity is articulating some point loudly to their extremely patient manager. Quackity is as energetic as he is on stage chanting lyrics to a crowd, he certainly knows how to make himself heard. He dresses in a sportswear jacket with a beanie on his head and old, battered converse on his feet. He doesn't look like the sort of guy who would be fronting an indie band but with his room-brightening charisma, he's the perfect guy for the job.

Whilst Quackity debates their manager, guitarist Karl Jacobs and drummer Sapnap sit together, talking loudly and sharing a laugh over something on the latter's phone.

The only member participating in any form of silence is bassist George, who sits slouched next to them, observing his bandmates. He looks like he needs a good nights sleep, eyes half-closed and waiting for the interview to formally begin. Clearly revelling in the moment of peace he has found for himself as the others carry on with each other.

They're an odd mix. They don't quite seem like they'd all fit together as one cohesive group and in many ways they don't. They're a clash of style and substance. But somehow, despite the odds, they all get on well and form this strange, eclectic band.

"We're like one big happy family." Karl Jacobs grins when I ask about their dynamic. He overflows with nothing but smiles and good cheer - often egging the other members up to his level of hype. "We just work together, I don't know. We annoy each other I guess. But we just find ourselves funny."

Karl Jacobs is dressed the most like an e-boy out of all of them, for this self-proclaimed e-band. With his floppy hair and painted nails, the collared shirt under his jumper and straight leg jeans. He's been known to don glitter and glitz on stage, though it's usually just sparkly eyeshadow smeared across his cheeks.

Formed as a group of friends who met over the internet. The Feral Boys have grown their steady base of devoted fans. Barely six months old, the band already boast over 50 million collective views on the music videos for their new debut album — _We Are Popping Off._

"It originally started as a bit of a joke. We were sending each other these dumb covers of songs we had made, memes really. But we realised, wait a minute? We actually sound kinda good." Lead singer Alex Quackity tells me.

"So we put our heads together and produced something a bit more serious. The first song we actually wrote was _Popping Off._ We already had this whole bit where we'd say it to each other constantly, which we still do."

"Yeah, it grew from that and then George wrote this sick bassline for us. We just kept adding to it. It became this actual, polished song that was like— good!" Sapnap adds, shooting a smile at George.

"We ended up recording a dumb music video together over Discord." Karl giggles at the memory.

At this point in time, all of The Feral Boys had lived in different states and countries, putting together a video from their respective homes.

Their music video is very lo-fi - but purposefully so. With bad green-screen effects, it evokes a heightened feeling of one of those low budget student film indie movies. Grainy lenses, bright coloured overlays and all. It's bedroom pop-rock at its finest.

They grew overnight with the release of their first music video, the aforementioned _Popping Off._ Climbing up to 1 million views in days, then 5 and then 10. The video sits now at a comfortable 26 million. The songs they released afterwards quickly gaining similar traction as the first.

"We blew up out of nowhere. It's crazy how quick people have been to support us."

I ask them if they'd still be creating music together if they didn't blow up as quickly as they have.

"Of course."

"It's for us. We make it because we enjoy it. We'd still be posting music to that YouTube account even if only one hundred people saw it." Sapnap tells me.

I ask about the title they've given themselves as an _e-band._ What does it mean to them exactly?

"We recorded all of our stuff separately, or on call sharing advice with each other. The album and the band were put together over the Internet. We met online, it just fit who we are and what we want to do."

"We didn't even meet each other, in person, until we started this tour together. It's crazy." Sapnap tells me. I find myself in disbelief at this fact, they're all so obviously comfortable with each other. They practically overlap, sitting half on top of each other on the hotel room's sofa. Completely at ease.

They're finishing up a sold-out tour of the States and whilst their venues haven't been Madison Square Garden level of big. Each concert has been booming, and their social presence is growing even more thanks to their loud and proud fans. Soon enough, I'm sure they'll be filling stadiums.

And what now? They're all travelling together, finishing up their first-ever tour and finally creating music in person. Are they still calling themselves an e-band?

"Well, I suppose we're just a normal band now." Sapnap shrugs, looking to the others for confirmation.

"Yeah, but we're an e-band in spirit. It's about the energy." Karl nods.

"Our songs are influenced by Internet Culture. So we're still writing about that online space even if we're not using it to produce our music anymore." Quackity tells me.

it's obvious that almost all their songs are made up of popular Internet memes and inside jokes between the band members. Most clear with their song _Chillin' in Cedar Rapids_ , a reference to the 2015 Snapchat video of Hillary Clinton in which she states she is 'chilling in Cedar Rapids'. Or, their song _Vouch_ , making fun of the popular term used on social media sites such as Twitter to get clout from followers. Their song _Sex Havers_ , which is an inside joke between the boys. I can't get a straight story out of them to know what the song is actually about. They just break out into predictive chaos and laughter, with Karl, Quackity and George clowning on Sapnap for not being a 'Sex Haver'. Which, leads me to believe I don't _want_ to know what the song is about. We move on as quickly as their manager can get them to keep going with the interview and my next questions.

I have to ask how they're enjoying touring and getting into the headspace to perform in front of around a thousand people at every show. They haven't had to experience the slow early stages that most bands do — performing at half-empty bars until the right person hears their music.

While it's many bands dream to be where they are so early in their careers, it can't be easy going straight from singing to no one to singing and performing for so many.

"It was weird." Karl laughs nervously. "We had to practice so much before the tour formally started because we were like, what if we sound completely dog water when we all play live together?"

"Yeah, we'd never done that before."

"It was hard. We didn't know if we would work or if we were going to have to freaking cancel the tour and just stick to uploading music online." Sapnap says.

He's a Texas boy, dressed casual in a hoodie and jeans. Different to the confident persona he takes onstage — with a bandana tied to his head and wickedly fierce drumming. He's known George the longest in the band, meeting years ago on a Minecraft server of all things. They instantly became friends. The two later met Quackity and then Karl through other mutual online friends and they all formed a tight bond together as a group. Inseparable since.

They're the epitome of the modern surge of online friendships and how those bonds can be just as unbreakable as any ordinary friendship. Moving past the dated idea that meeting people on the Internet means Catfishing and dangerous consequences like doxxing or hacking.

Back to how they felt jumping straight into performing for thousands of people. Karl comments some more on how the band practised together in a hotel room for hours upon hours when they first met up for the tour. "We didn't even give ourselves time to get used to each other. But we didn't really need to, all of us were in the same headspace of like, _'Right, let's do this. Let's make sure we can actually play.'_ And there were a few—" He breaks off into laughter.

"There were a few very shitty first attempts where we thought that this was it. That we wouldn't be able to take it further. But we found our flow and it just— worked, right?" He looks to his bandmates for confirmation.

"Yeah, yeah. Exactly. We did this underground show at a bar before the tour formally started, just to see how people would react to us. It must have been a hundred people in some dive bar we found in Tacoma. We had to pay to join this live music night they were hosting." Quackity adds on.

"I think that was harder than the actual shows," Karl confirms. He blows out a breath of air that makes me believe it.

"It made us realise this was all so real. That we were actually doing this." George, who speaks for maybe the first time this interview, gives his two cents. He's the most enigmatic member of the group. Everything I grow to learn about him is through the other members.

The British boy sits in the middle, happy to laugh and smile along with the other's jokes. But he's not much of a talker. If he wasn't a part of The Feral Boys he might be pegged as any other sullen, broody wannabe indie star. I'm told, through the other's teasing, that George is just shy. That you have to stick around long enough to crack open his exterior.

What I do pick up on is this: he's fond of the other boys, eager to talk about the music and dick around with Karl. His leg hasn't stopped bouncing with what I assume is nervous energy. He later tells me he's itching for a cigarette, but too polite to leave in the middle of the interview for one.

He looks tired, but that's probably something to do with the leftover smudge of dark eye makeup still stuck to his lashes from last night's show.

He's also ribbed by the other members of the band for being like a Grandad.

"George has such old person energy it is unreal. He sleeps all the time, he never posts anything unless you sit there and force him." Quackity tells me.

Which is definitely true, whilst the other members are frequent posters on Instagram and Twitter, George is rarely online. His fans are left to get excited over photos of him from the other boy's accounts. Usually, they capture him off-guard, not-looking at the camera. 

With their recent bout of exhausting high energy shows every other night and travelling around the USA, I ask the band how they're finding time to write new music.

Quackity nods at me."It's going to be a lot different from when we wrote the last album, we're all actually sitting in a room together, and not screen-sharing on Discord or whatever.".

Karl expands on this. "It's easier, I'd say, for sure. I'm actually glad we made an album in what I'd consider the hard way first. Because now we're all in one place we don't have to deal with lag or trying to send gigantic files to each other on shitty wifi."

"We've been spending a lot of time in hotel rooms just jamming and writing shit. Piecing it all together into songs." Sapnap tells me.

With the release of their first album, _We Are Popping Off!_ I ask the band if they can tell us what their favourite tracks are.

"Mine's probably just _Popping Off._ " It's surprisingly George who is the first to answer. "It was our first song. It was just all of us together before we even had a band name. It's ours." He smiles, looking at his boys.

"I loved doing _Chillin' In Cedar Rapids._ I think it's my favourite song we've written," Quackity tells me.

The song is the most laidback on the album, stripping the full rock sound down to a more bedroom-pop feeling. It's sung by Quackity, with too-cool for you lyrics and pop culture references. It gets sung right back at the band when performed on stage. As mentioned earlier like most of their songs, it's not entirely serious in lyrical content. The way Quackity sings it you might be able to pretend it's something heartful until you start listening closely to the words. Overall, it's the perfect song for dancing around your bedroom in your socks to.

" _Any Askers_ is mine. I love the sound and drumming live for it is such an intense experience." Sapnap reveals. "Me and George had so much fun when we were writing it." It's the only song on the album that bassist George sings vocals on. A powerful, boot-stomping tune that you can easily shout along with.

Karl is the last to answer. "It's so hard. I genuinely love listening to and performing them all. I don't know. I'd agree with Quackity, I love _Cedar Rapids_ but if you want me to pick another one I'd have to say _Boxed Like A Fish_."

The song, full title: _Boxed like A Fish (You're Dog Water)_ is the most nonsensical song on the album. Pulled directly from a group joke, it is odd, chanty with sometimes questionable lyrics that are pretty easy to scream along to. And it makes you wonder, how did anyone ever think of this?

It's perfect. It's The Feral Boys personified. Messy and loud, disorganised. The most fun you've ever had in your life. Seeing it live, as the crowd screams the lyrics and jumps about while on stage Karl Jacobs and Quackity are hyper with energy, trying to throw off George's rhythm as he plays, bouncing around like madmen and stirring the audience into a frenzy, you feel a part of something big. 

They've only just begun and already they are making their mark.

Who are The Feral Boys then?

To answer the question, I'm still not quite sure what to make of them. They're certainly a strange group, a bit of an eyesore in terms of clashing styles and personalities but somehow they all fit perfectly together to create some truly brilliant music. I'll be keeping my eye on what it is they do next. Because whatever it is, it's going to be an experience you cannot miss.

Buy The Feral Boy's new album, _We Are Popping Off!_ [here.](https://heartsighsss.tumblr.com/post/643754426152189952/front-back-covers-for-the-feral-boys-new-album)

**RELATED ARTICLES**

> — Did Singer Dream Accidently Leak His Face in New Instagram Post?
> 
> — Why We're Simping for Dream's Hands This Week.
> 
> — An Interview with Wilbur Soot. From Twitch Streamer to Singer, and Why YouTube is The Future for Music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BAND AU, BAND AU! Welcome to the introduction.
> 
> With eventual smut (which will be my first time writing it so let's just see how that goes!). Also featuring cigarettes and alcohol, so if you don't enjoy reading about these things proceed with caution. This fic includes smoker!george.
> 
> Updating soon with a playlist (as soon as it has been organised) which will include a lot of songs that suit the vibe of the Feral Boys music as well as just general songs that go with this fic!


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